


Danger Days: The true lives of the fabulous killjoys.

by Delphinidia, haoshoumon



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Aditional tags to be added, Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Drama, Eventual Romance, Eventual Sex, Guns, Gyuhao, M/M, Major Character Injury, References to Drugs, Soonhoon - Freeform, Violence, its a mf emo reference, jeongcheol - Freeform, references to murder
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:28:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26321158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Delphinidia/pseuds/Delphinidia, https://archiveofourown.org/users/haoshoumon/pseuds/haoshoumon
Summary: The year is 2054. The Dunes no longer exist.All that exists is that damned Metropolis with its obscene technology and starving people out there. And there are them too.The fabulous killjoys were hidden in a rat's nest, ready to gnaw the system to the base. Ready to turn it into dust.Louder than God's revolver and twice as shiny,the killjoys will destroy everything.Party Poison, a.k.a., Lee Jihoon would let nothing stand in his way.However, everything changed when a crazy guy showed up in front of him.A hostage. A hand grenade. A luxation. A stranger.The future is bulletproof.
Relationships: Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Yoon Jeonghan, Kim Mingyu/Xu Ming Hao | The8, Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi/Lee Jihoon | Woozi
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	1. Look alive, sunshine.

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Danger Days: The true lives of the fabulous killjoys.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26341663) by [Delphinidia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Delphinidia/pseuds/Delphinidia), [gyuhaoland (haoshoumon)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/haoshoumon/pseuds/gyuhaoland). 



> So Bruna and I were listening to Bulletproof Heart and we thought "why not?" and here we are.  
> It's an obvious reference to MCR's album, even tho there's a lot of differences.  
> We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!!

Lee Jihoon hated running, this was a fact he always found when he needed to lead some incursion in search of funds for the Resistance. He found it funny to treat all those assaults and thefts as incursions, but if Jeonghan liked it that way, he wouldn't be the one who would oppose it.

But anyway, Lee Jihoon liked the adrenaline he felt when the incursions were made in broad daylight. It was as if he looked at the Government and then pissed on everything it preached, so it was... satisfactory.

The boy's eyes studied the practically desert scenery in front of him carefully, almost hoping that something would jump out of the shadows to hinder his plans. One, two, ten seconds passed without anything happening and, with relief, Jihoon let go of the air he hadn't even noticed he was holding.

"Fun Ghoul, move on," Jihoon whispered on the little communicator after confirming that the area was clean. Normally, he would let Jeonghan go in front and then protect the rear, mainly because the other one was totally careless and they would probably be dead by that time if they would depend on him to watch whatever it was.

"Understood," Jeonghan's voice sounded muffled and it didn't take long for Jihoon to see the slender body of the accomplice crossing the abandoned parking lot at an impressive speed. He counted up to five and soon ran after, giving some coordinates to the subordinate who had been waiting in the van to facilitate the escape.

It wasn't long before Jihoon and Jeonghan found themselves inside the building and, following what they had memorized from a plan they had hacked a few days earlier, they soon found a secondary corridor through which they could sneak thanks to the absence of cameras.

"Now let's separate," Jihoon said, looking around nervously. "We'll meet again outside, don't fuck around and don't get caught."

"I know, m _ ommy _ ," Jeonghan rolled his eyes and smiled at his friend before placing the green mask that identified him among the Rebels over his eyes and then moving to the left side of the building.

With a sigh, Jihoon slid the yellow mask over his face and then followed to the right side, wondering when exactly he would have the chance to blow that hell up.

If there was something Jihoon hated, that something was all that referred to what had happened in the Dunes so many years before. It was ridiculous that Battery Living Industries still existed, but the rebel leader was trying to conform to the fact that it would be for a short time and that soon he would finally get his revenge.

His feet took him to the second floor and, not for the first time since he got there, he felt that something was wrong. All that tranquility made no sense, mainly because it was still the middle of the afternoon.

He knew, however, that it was impossible for the company to know about the invasion plan: only he and Jeonghan knew about it and Jeonghan would definitely not chip away at his own organization when there was so much at stake. And they both knew that the next move was too big to simply risk failing before they even started it.

However, it was too late to try to consider anything and it was too far from the exit, so the only option was to continue with the initial plan. Gathering all the strength he had, Jihoon kicked the last door of the barren corridor and raised the gun as soon as the wood crashed under his foot.

A bunch of men was gathered around an oval table, with a holographic presentation rising near his headboard. Well, that would certainly explain the exterior calm. All eyes were drawn to the door and Jihoon opened a little smirk when he saw the scare stamped on all those faces.

Maybe Jihoon should take some of them hostage, or maybe he should just kill them all.

However, before he could decide anything, a boy who seemed too young to attend business meetings got up and shot his gaze between the door and the man who was sitting in front of him.

"Take me with you!" The boy yelled and, honestly, Jihoon couldn't be more confused.

"What?" Jihoon ended up screaming back, totally skeptical. He definitely didn't expect that something like this would be the possible obstacle that the plan couldn't foresee.

"Take me with you!" The stranger repeated and, judging by the expression in his eyes, he was serious. "You are one of the Rats, aren't you? Take me along!"

_ I'm their leader,  _ Jihoon thought with a certain amusement and just rolled his eyes before squeezing his fingers around the pistol grip.

"Where is the money?" He questioned, making a point of staring each one of those men They, however, still seemed too embalmed with the little show that the youngest of them had provided to even assimilate that he had a firearm pointed at their faces.

"I'll tell!" the same boy from before shouted and punched the table before getting up. Then, turning to others, he continued: "I hate you all! I hate this shitty corporation!"

Jihoon honestly didn't understand a thing, but if that kid wanted to help him so badly, he would definitely take him hostage. Even if he couldn't use it to negotiate, he could certainly tell where the money and weapons he wanted in exchange for staying alive were.

So, the rebel pulled the boy by the neck and leaned the gun on his temple before pulling him out of the room.

"Okay, where are the things I want?" Jihoon asked rashly. "And who are you?"

"Is this important?" The stranger grumbled while indicating the white and barren corridors that Jihoon should pass through to get to the third floor faster. "I'm already helping you."

"I thought you wanted to be part of the Rats," Jihoon commented and then took the communicator to talk to Jeonghan. "Party Poison speaking. I got the good stuff and a hostage... interesting. Over."

"Perfect. I'll be waiting at the matched location. Over and out." His partner replied quickly and Jihoon soon turned to the boy.

"Okay, we have little time. If you want to be part of the Resistance, take all the money you can carry and meet me at the emergency exit in five minutes."

"Ok. By the way, it's Chan."

"What?" Jihoon asked stupidly.

"My name."

"Okay, you can call me Party Poison," that's all Jihoon said before he went towards the hand grenades.

Lee Chan wanted to laugh at that awful name, but soon remembered he needed to be out of the building in five minutes and went on his own way. Honestly, Jihoon didn't think he would cooperate with him, but he knew he could knock him out easily in case he decided to get in the way of his plans.

Jihoon's biggest concern was the other men who were in that room. As much as they seemed totally inert, sooner or later they would realize that an attack was taking place and they would trigger the security systems.

It didn't take long to his two backpacks get full and Jihoon went out into the hall, cursing under his breath when he saw that he had already begun to be cornered. Maybe that was a good opportunity to find out if Battery Living grenades were useful, he concluded with a little smile.

Party Poison threw one grenade against the security guards and then ran towards the huge window glass that overtook the wall that faced the outside. Jihoon knew he was on the third floor and knew he could break his neck in the fall, but it was better than staying there and paying to see if he would be blown up together or not.

He broke the window with a kick at the very moment when the grenade exploded and, by the skies, Jihoon could not see anything when he was thrown out. He thanked himself for wearing a beaten leather jacket even with the warm weather, because he certainly would have cut his arms if it wasn't for it, and closed his eyes while he felt his body fall, trying to find a way to protect himself.

Jihoon rolled on the flowerbed when he hit the ground with a dry thump and soon got up, knowing there was no time to check if his body was ok. However, even if he wanted to ignore it, a pungent pain rose up to his ankle and almost threw him back to the ground.

Great, that really was all he needed.

He did his best to run towards the black van, which was already waiting for him with the door open, and he couldn't help but be surprised to see Chan in there.

"How...?" He asked weakly and dropped himself in the new recruit's lap, trying not to run into that damned ankle anywhere.

All the action, from the invasion to that moment hadn't lasted an hour and, as much as Jihoon had chipped away in the process, he was proud of his performance.

"He appeared shouting Party Poison, he could only be your hostage," Jeonghan explained while putting a handful of light blue hair behind his ear. "Are you ok?"

"Do I look ok to you?" Jihoon grunted and closed the van's door before heading to the driver. "Step deep."

The subordinate obeyed immediately and, before Jihoon could say anything else, he felt a pair of cracked lips against his own. But what...? Jihoon honestly didn't know what to do and definitely didn't expect to be kissed that day, not with a possible broken ankle and not in front of his ex. 

Jihoon couldn't even react and, before he could make any decision, Chan walked away. Even he seemed shocked by the situation and Jihoon laughed softly when saw him blush miserably. Strange boy.

The three of them got stuck in awkward silence for a few moments until the leader finally decided to externalize the issue that was tormenting him.

"So... Are you a spy?"

"What?!"

"You know, that whole scene was very... strange," Jihoon grunted low when a new wave of pain in his ankle made him see stars. "So I can only believe you're a spy."

"Why are you taking me along with you if you think so bad of me?" Chan barked, feeling his face heated. He would never lend himself to the role of spying anything, even more for that shitty company.

"I told you that you were a hostage." Jihoon shrugged. "Ya really helped and everything, but who guarantees me that you're not a lure?"

Well, that logic made sense, but Chan didn't stop feeling extremely offended.

"I'm not." The boy answered in a petulant tone. "How can I prove I'm not?"

"Fun Ghoul will certainly think of something," Jihoon let a tired little smile appear on his face and sighed afterward. "Fuck, what a pain, makes this thing go faster."

"That's right." Chan totally ignored Jihoon's sore laments and faced him: "What's your real name?"

"Do ya really think I'd tell my name to a stranger?" Jihoon bowed his eyebrows. "Also, if you are what you say you are, soon ya will have a new name, too."

That perspective excited Chan again, who seemed a little  _ too  _ happy for the taste of the Rats. Usually, people joined the Resistance crying and shouting, not laughing happily and distributing kisses.

"Why did you want to come with us?" Jeonghan ended up asking, keeping his eyes fixed on Chan.

"Do you promise me you won't judge me?" Chan asked hesitantly and bit his lower lip.

"I never promise anything, now answer right away or I'll throw you out of here." Right, Chan was definitely scared of that Fun Ghoul guy.

"Yeah, yeah. My life sucks and I needed a little emotion to feel alive."

"Have you become an enemy of the State just because you were bored?!" Jihoon's eyes widened in disbelief and he shook his head negatively, being even more sure that Chan was a spy.

"Hmmm... Yes? Being practically a slave is no fun, you know." Chan answered seriously and leaned back on the torn bench. "Are we arriving already?"

"Maybe ya still don't understand, boy, but the Resistance is not a child's game," Jihoon said after straightening up and left his leg up. He ran one hand through his cherry-colored hair and stared at Chan again. "Ya won't have fun in it and ya might end up dying, actually. And I won't be responsible if you die. And ya won't be able to go back to the City when you decide that ya regretted and made the wrong choice."

"I don't want to go back." Chan returned, in a decided tone. "I don't know if you noticed, but I hate this place, I hate all these people."

"And is this motivation enough to give your life for a bunch of unknown tramps?" The redhead questioned.

"Yes." Jihoon was surprised by the lack of hesitation in that answer but, still, he didn't believe in Chan's words at all.

"If ya want to give up, the time is now. If ya continue, you'll remain as a hostage."

"Okay, fuck it, I already said I'm going," Chan snitched and crossed his arms, finally turning away Party Poison's gaze.

Jihoon raised his eyebrows and pressed his lips in a thin line, throwing a look full of meanings and questions to Jeonghan.

"So you won't mind being blindfolded, right?" Jeonghan said, adjusting the mask on the face. Sweat made his skin scratch under that crap, but it definitely wouldn't reveal itself to Chan before being sure that he was completely reliable.

"No, I think it will be fun, too."

A burst of unbelieving laughter escaped from their lips with that cretinous answer, but Jeonghan nodded anyway and looked around looking for anything that could serve him as a blindfold. Having found nothing, he then decided to tear a piece of the black T-shirt he was wearing and use it for that purpose.

Jihoon looked away and retracted the curtain from the window to try to see if they were already arriving and, with relief, noticed that yes. He honestly was already almost pissing himself with pain and wanted to see if he really had broken something.

The scenery changed drastically as the vehicle headed for the Dunes; it was even ridiculous how the City was at most forty kilometers away and yet it looked like a parallel reality. Unlike the Metropolis, everything there seemed extremely opaque and lifeless. Jihoon liked it better that way, though. There was something terribly artificial about everything about the City and it made him sick. It was almost as if only the City mattered, but not its inhabitants. If you had no money, you didn't exist.

Soon the van started to go down to the underground and Jihoon knew that they had arrived. Darkness took over for a few seconds and then they finally parked.

"Help me here," Jihoon asked and reached his arms to Jeonghan.

Without saying anything, Jeonghan threw Jihoon over a shoulder like he was a bag of potatoes and then pulled Chan by the arm, guiding him through the improvised parking lot.

"I'll leave you in the nursery and take this one to the basement," Jeonghan informed. "When Crashed Owl releases you, we can do an interrogatory."

"Alright," Jihoon sighed and closed his eyes. As much as it didn't seem so, he trusted Jeonghan's judgment a lot and knew that the latter only wanted the best for himself.

Jihoon kept his eyes closed while he was carried by the maze that was the Rats' nest and only opened them again when the white lights of the nursery hit him.

Like everything at the base, that place was also improvised. Three stretchers were arranged in parallel and only a little plastic curtain separated them but, fortunately, they were all empty.

"What happened to him?" Crashed Owl's deep voice, or Jeon Wonwoo for the intimate, filled his ears.

Everything in that guy seemed to be a little too much. Wonwoo was too tall, his voice was too deep and he was too talented. Nobody knew for sure how he ended up joining the Rats, but they would definitely never complain about having a decent doctor there. If they were to depend on Jihoon, they would all die with even the most naive of injuries.

"I had to jump from the third floor and I think I broke my ankle," he grumbled in response. "Fix me."

"I'd find it adorable if you'd stop throwing yourselves toward imminent death just because you know I'll save you later," Wonwoo commented and approached to take a look. "At least there's no blood."

"Hm, if ya say so." Jihoon sighed softly and tried not to hold back when Wonwoo wrapped the bar of his pants to expose his ankle.

"I'll squeeze it lightly," - the Owl warned and waved to Jeonghan before he left. "And who is that blindfolded guy?"

"A madman who is now my hostage. And go ahead, I can take it."

Jihoon couldn't take it.

A stabbing pain ran all over his leg when Wonwoo's fingers bumped into the swollen area and it was hard to contain the whining that forced its way through his lips.

"Okay, I won't squeeze it," Wonwoo said and moved his hand away immediately. "I'm glad you stole that scanner last week."

The scanner in question had been  _ found  _ in a Metropolis hospital, and as much as Jihoon didn't know exactly what it was for, he thought it would be interesting to take it with you. Later, he found out that it was for bone checks and whatever was inside a human being.

Honestly, he was annoyed by things like that; it was simply obscene that the rich people of Metropolis had access to things like that when three times as many people died outside the Walls without even having anything to eat or the minimum of medical attention.

"Do you want the good news or the bad news first?" Wonwoo asked when the device beeped after long minutes.

"The good one, my day is already being bad enough," Jihoon grumbled in response.

"Okay, your bone is not broken."

"And the bad one?"

"You've suffered a luxation and I need to put your bone in place as soon as possible. And you won't be able to go out on these rides of yours until I am sure everything is fine."

"Ah... Please be sure within three days," Jihoon tried, feeling anxious only to think about delaying the various things he had to do.

"Jihoon," Wonwoo said in a warning tone. "Lucky for you, no nerve is broken, or I would keep you sedated for the rest of the month."

"Jeonghan won't like to know that you're threatening me."

"Fuck what Jeonghan likes." Wonwoo rolled his eyes "I'm going to suspend your leg for a while to see if this swelling goes down, ok?"

"Ok, but hurry up. I need to do an interrogatory and separate the new weapons."

"Which part of 'you can't leave' is hard to understand?" Wonwoo slapped Jihoon's forehead and held an ice pack against the swollen area. "Find someone else to do these things for you."

"I hate you." The leader snitched and then took the communicator inside his jacket. "Fun Ghoul, come here."

"Are you still in the nursery?" Jeonghan answered immediately.

"Yeah, that damned owl doesn't want to let me out of here."

"Okay, I'm coming," Jeonghan's low laugh filled the room and Jihoon grumbled before relaxing against the stiff stretcher. He had no time to recover and was sure that Wonwoo also knew this.

In the meantime, Wonwoo administered some painkillers that Jihoon didn't want to take in order not to leave the stocks even scarcer and complained about how stupid he was.

"Before we deal with business, the boy wants to make a call," was the first thing Jeonghan said when he arrived.

"He should have done it before offering to be taken as hostage."

"Please! It's just to make sure no one will try to look for me." Chan explained quickly and tried to make his best poor guy face.

"It can only be a prank, fucking hell," Jihoon sighed hard and tried to look less pathetic with that leg stuck up. "I won't lend you any phone from here."

"All right, I got mine," he answered animatedly.

"You didn't inspect him?" Jihoon's voice came out extremely angry and he faced Jeonghan with his most deadly gaze

"I thought you had already done that!" Jeonghan justified himself.

"You used to be more competent than that. And can I know who you want to call so much?"

"My cousin. It's just to let him know I'm okay and tell him to lie to my parents about me staying with him."

"So it's okay if we hear this call, right?"

"Right," Chan nodded and, honestly, Jihoon didn't think he would allow it.

"And then your phone will be confiscated."

"Uh... All right, I guess, I'll follow the rules."

Okay, there was definitely something very weird about that boy's behavior. Meanwhile, Jihoon wanted to see how far he would go, so he ended up allowing the call.

Chan, in fact, just said he was fine and happy, which upset the other three, and talked about making up some lie to his parents before he hung up. Chan remained silent while listening to that unknown cousin and said goodbye quickly before turning to the three of them with a grumpy smile on his face.

"So... He said he will come here to talk with you."

"WHAT?" Surprisingly, the shout did not come from Jihoon. Wonwoo faced Chan with his eyes wide open and was already thinking about how to get rid of that magnet of misfortune.

"How does he know where you are?" Jihoon's voice echoed coldly and, for heaven's sake, if his leg hadn't been hanging, he would have already stood up and punched Lee Chan's face.

"Yeah... I don't know either, I didn't say anything. And I was blindfolded with you on top of me inside the van, you saw my hands all the time."

Well, that was true, but still, it didn't make sense that that relative knew exactly where Chan was, mainly because he hadn't said anything to refer to the Rats on that call.

"Look for a tracker," Jihoon demanded and slapped the holster on his thigh to find the gun. He was glad Wonwoo didn't take it from him when they arrived. "I  _ knew  _ you were acting weird."

Chan knew he was were clean, so he didn't try to resist while he had a scanner being pressed against every inch of his body.

"He is clean." Jeonghan frowned. "Maybe you want to confess something?"

"I told the truth, I have no idea how he supposedly knows where I am. I wouldn't have told you about wanting to call him and everything if I was a spy."

"So what? A stranger keeps coming after you, who practically begged to be brought in as a hostage. As you may have noticed, hostages are disposable. If you're going to bring me more trouble than benefits, I'll get rid of you."

A chill went through Chan's spine and he nodded, even though he didn't think it was bad at all. Being threatened with death was really stimulating. However, he didn't like the grip of that Crashed Owl in his arms, because it was already clear that he wouldn't run away, he didn't need all that little show as if he were some killjoy.

Jihoon was seriously considering letting go of that stupid suspension and punch Chan with all he had, but before he could do it, one of his informants ran into the nursery.

"There's someone out there. Said his name was Kwon Soonyoung."

"My cousin!" Chan exclaimed. "I don't mind talking to him in front of you, stop looking at me like that."

"I'm kind of stuck here," Jihoon grumbled. "Do the standard method and take him to the interrogation room."

The girl nodded and then left, leaving them alone again.

"Damned Owl, get me out of here and take me to the interrogation room."

"You always get sweet when you're stressed." Jeonghan laughed a bit and pulled Chan near him. "We'll wait for you in the hall."

It wasn't long before everyone gathered in that room and, before anyone could say anything, Kwon Soonyoung hurried over Lee Chan and punched him in the face.

"What the fuck are you thinking? Do you think this resistance shit is a joke?"

"I've already been asked that today." The smaller and younger boy laughed without humor and stroked his cheek. "I told you I was fine, what the fuck did you come here for?"

"Fetching you, isn't it obvious? Enough of this bullshit."

"Who the hell are you?" Jihoon drew attention to him.

Soonyoung's gaze finally left his cousin and rested on the cherry-haired guy. His expression was unreadable but, still, Jihoon realized that his shoulders tensed when their eyes crossed. The moment lasted only a second and Soonyoung faced his cousin again, hating him twice for having messed with those guys.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter," Jihoon kept talking, clenching his jaw even more. "I don't know how your cousin managed to give you coordinates, but now I'll have to kill you both."

"He didn't give me any coordinates," Soonyoung said quickly, feeling his spine freezing. That's really all he needed. As much as that little guy looked extremely weak, he would recognize him anywhere. "And this idiot is no spy, I assure you he's just a fucking asshole."

"And why should I believe you?" Jihoon bowed his eyebrows and spun the gun in his hands.

Soonyoung definitely didn't want those people to know who, in fact, he was and also didn't want them to know his connections. However, Chan's stupidity gave him no alternative and he would have no way to explain to his aunt why she received her son's brains on a tray.

In the end, all he wanted was to stay away from confusion, but that idiot cousin wouldn't allow it.

"Pretty Venom." That's all Soonyoung answered and Jihoon's eyes shone in recognition.

Of course, he knew the leader of the Bees, although they didn't usually work together. There was a silent agreement between the two organizations not to mess with each other's business since, in the end, they both had the same goal: to screw with that shitty Government.

If Soonyoung was part of the Bees, it made sense that he knew where the Rats' nest was but still that didn't explain Chan.

"And what is that? A letter of war?" Jeonghan asked. "Why would he send one of you to our base?"

"Chan is not part of them. I am. Was. That's why I knew where he was." Soonyoung had already revealed much more than he intended for the rest of his life and, honestly, he didn't know what was preventing him from killing Chan at that exact moment.

"Owl?" Jihoon looked to Wonwoo for help, since he knew that the latter was very good at body-reading.

"He is telling the truth," Wonwoo concluded quickly.

"Good. Take Chan's phone and take him back to the basement. Fun Ghoul and I will have a little chat with this Kwon Soonyoung."

"Ok, but don't make too much physical effort. You know I will know if you do."

"Yeah, yeah." Jihoon let him go with a nod and stretched out. "So, Kwon Soonyoung, why did you leave the Bees?"

Again, he felt like killing his cousin.

"I had no reason to stay anymore." Soonyoung finally answered. "I didn't want to live a life of violence and fear anymore."

"And your cousin dragged you to this lair of murderous rats." Jeonghan laughed low. "I'm sorry for you."

"I'm sorry for me, too, that's why I came to get him. I apologize for the inconvenience he caused."

"He won't go away," Jihoon said. "Chan is ours now, and he's totally neutralized. We're not returning your cousin."

"Why not? You've seen that he only causes problems."

"It's true, but now I want to know what a Bee's cousin was doing in the BL building," a scary little smile opened on Jihoon's face. "I want to know how a Bee's cousin had such a high position inside, that he attended meetings and knew where the money was."

At that moment, Soonyoung knew that Chan was finished.

He knew Lee Jihoon, although Jihoon did not know him. He knew everything the Rats were capable of. And he knew that by offering himself as a hostage, Chan had made the worst - and maybe the last - mistake of his life.

  
  
  



	2. This world is after me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hiii hello again  
> I loved writing this chapter because it's so different from what I usually write and yeah hope it's decent.

Yoon Jeonghan was exhausted.

Jihoon was always more unbearable than usual when he was nervous, and it wouldn't be that time that things would be different. Fortunately, Wonwoo had already managed to put the leader's ankle back in place, so it was one less concern.

However, they now had two hostages to feed and plans that certainly would be postponed thanks to the terrible conditions the leader was in. Honestly, that was one of the worst scenarios he could foresee, and his options of action were scarce.

However, there was a plan B, one that Jeonghan would like to never have to appeal. After all, he hated to use the people he loved, but he knew that the Resistance was bigger than that, bigger than any moral code and bigger than any feeling he could have.

Yoon Jeonghan tried to keep this in mind while typing a quick message for  _ him _ , asking them to meet in the usual place. The response was almost instantaneous, and not for the first time, Jeonghan hated himself for even considering it.

He knew Seungcheol would hate him for asking for it, but it was necessary anyway. And it was also the confirmation he needed before he continued fucking the enemy's son. 

Jeonghan put on the low-gravity boots he had found in a trash can a few months ago and sighed relieved to see that he still had fuel. It was simply not feasible to try to escape from the Nest using a vehicle. All of them were tracked by Jihoon, and, also, he didn't want to consume the gas reserves with a plan that he didn't even know would work.

Going out to the surface was always a great adventure. Obviously, there was no light source there, and it was easy to get lost in the tunnels, even Jeonghan was already used to them.

He would never stop finding thermal disparity completely absurd. During the day, Jeonghan always felt that he would end up melting and becoming nothing but a pile of bones, and at night, the cold was so absurd that he couldn't stop his teeth from bumping into each other.

The darkness stank every crack and made the alleys easy to confuse. If it wasn't for the luminosity that leaked through the Walls and always worked as a lighthouse, Jeonghan would already have gotten lost in that sea of sand, wreckage scorched from ages ago and more sand.

Jeonghan shrunk inside the red hoodie and sniffed, hoping he wouldn't end up having an allergic crisis thanks to so much dust. It was enough that Jihoon almost died because of that, always, it wasn't necessary that another one suffered from allergies and spent the almost non-existent stock of medicines.

Moreover, he would never cease to find it suspicious how easy it was to get close to the Walls, although he would not complain as long as he could get some advantage from it. It was just that it seemed too unreal that they really left some parts unsupervised, but it was that failure that made it possible for him to meet Choi Seungcheol.

As always, he didn't have to wait more than five minutes for the appearance of the older boy who, that night, looked devastatingly gorgeous. Jeonghan was too distracted by the neon lights that seemed too bright when seen from so close to notice Seungcheol until he was right in front of him.

Jeonghan liked how the expensive clothes of the Metropolis embraced Seungcheol's curves, liked how he looked somewhat voluptuous inside most of them. Jeonghan liked to pull them out of his eldest body and show him that, in the end, they were the same.

That night, Seungcheol wore the most discreet black clothes he could find, besides a brand new pair of low-gravity boots. If Jeonghan asked, he would give them to him without even thinking twice.

"Hello," the boy with brown hair greeted, feeling his heart beating frantically like the wings of a moth. Seungcheol loved the adrenaline he always felt when he met Jeonghan, he loved feeling so  _ vulnerable _ .

Seungcheol waited for Jeonghan to hug him as he always did when they met, but the touch he longed for never came. Looking closer, he could notice that those eyes, always so expressive, at that moment seemed somewhat disturbed.

But that didn't stop him from feeling his heart inflate and double in size when he saw the eyes he loved so much reflecting pink, blue, and neon green, the colors that escaped beyond the Walls.

"Did something happen?" The boy tried again, even though he knew Jeonghan would not tell him anything related to the Resistance or whatever that nest of rats was. Seungcheol knew he was  _ unreliable _ and knew the blue-haired boy hated to talk about serious matters when he was with him.

"Well, yes," Jeonghan sighed heavily and removed the hood that covered his hair, finally allowing Seungcheol to see him properly. "I need a favor from you."

"Hmm... right? What happened?" Seungcheol's features were stained with worry, and he took a step closer. He hated it when Jeonghan started talking in that incomprehensible way.

"I want to trust you, really," he said at once. "And it's useless looking at me like that because we both know I don't trust."

Jeonghan changed the weight of his body to his left leg and kicked some stones that were near his feet. He hated to talk that way with Seungcheol.

"Because of my parents." It wasn't a question. In fact, Seungcheol was quite resigned to it. He knew that a rebellious leadership would never trust the son of two officers and that, apparently, had nothing to gain if he challenged them.

"Yes," Jeonghan nodded. "I'm in a fucked-up situation now, and only you can help me. But helping me means betraying your parents and this shitty Metropolis."

"You shouldn't even have doubts about that," Seungcheol let a humorless laugh escape. "I've always told you how I feel about... this whole situation."

"It's just not easy to believe that someone would put their own life at risk because of some rat, you know?" Jeonghan opened a little corner smile and finally wrapped Seungcheol in his arms. "I need an informer."

"Will you take me with you when it's over?" Seungcheol wrapped his strong arms around his lover's shoulders and sighed relieved to finally be able to touch him, even if briefly.

"Cheol..."

Seungcheol knew what that warning tone meant. Nothing would  _ ever _ end. And the two of them could never be together with the way they wanted, not while that damn Metropolis existed. However, destroying it could also mean destroying Seungcheol, and Jeonghan was not prepared to make that choice. Not yet.

"Well, I'll join you whether you want to or not." The boy answered in an upset tone and let go of the hug to face Jeonghan. "Now tell me what you need, I can't take too long today."

"Okay," Jeonghan sighed low and unrolled the holo he was carrying in his hoodie pocket. "I need the blueprint of the base your parents work on."

"Will you kill them?" He asked curiously. Being honest, Seungcheol really couldn't understand why Jeonghan had never asked him that before. It was quite clear to him that invading and taking over the heart of the Metropolis would be the key to the Rats' success.

"I know you don't want them to die because of me, so I won't," Jeonghan answered, even though he knew it was hard to promise something like that. "I need weapons. And robots."

"Alright," Seungcheol released the air slowly and nodded. "Give me two days."

"Thanks. I promise I'll redeem myself by forcing you to do this."

"I thought I offered myself as a spy weeks ago?" Seungcheol laid his face on Jeonghan's hand and smiled small. "I wouldn't lie to you, you know that."

"I know," Jeonghan sighed, hoping that he wasn't wrong. He thought he would feel better, or at least lighter, after asking for that from Seungcheol, but, in reality, he only felt more suffocated than before.

He hated to feel that he was using Seungcheol.

It didn't take long for the brown-haired to take Jeonghan's lips on his own, and he gave in at the same instant. He loved Seungcheol. He was not only using it for his own nefarious interests.

He loved Seungcheol.

If he repeated himself enough, he might finally be able to convince himself that he was not lying. Maybe, eventually, he would stop feeling guilty for involving him in a war where there would probably be no winners.

* * *

Choi Seungcheol's mind was a thousand miles away as he returned home. The ghost of Jeonghan's touches still ran through his skin, like the paws of a spider would. And, as much as he tried to deny it, he was scared.

Seungcheol knew he had told Jeonghan that he'd do whatever it took, even before any request from the youngest but it was just that everything seemed different and more dangerous when he would  _ really _ do something.

His feet carried him across the borderland, and he sighed when the light became even brighter. He had never understood why the inner part of the Walls were several juxtaposed mLED screens, but it was not his duty to question. He had no time to question.

He hated that part of the city. The situation there seemed as bad as in the Dunes themselves, with that long stretch of arid ground taking over everything. The air seemed too stagnant, and he well knew that walking there was not safe at all.

In the end, inequality and hunger were the mothers of those people who lived there and, consequently, they were mothers of crime. Seungcheol's privileges would bring him more harm than good in that region and, this is why he always tried to camouflage himself in the shadows and smother the bluish halo that always emanated from the boots when they were on.

If Seungcheol could avoid the Fireflies, he'd be safe, even though he was not even sure about their existence being real. The criminal organization was almost folkloric over there, and even though it was inside the Walls, it was scarier than any Resistance could be.

But even so, Seungcheol got sick just thinking about what could happen to him if they found out who he was. If the Fireflies didn't kill him, the Corporation certainly would.

Relief enveloped him like a heavy piss bedspread when the cacophony of the central axis and its indecent lights bathed his eyes. From that point on, his presence would not be questioned, and his name was  _ worth  _ something. As always, the City seemed alive. 

It was clear as if the sun itself was still hanging in the sky, and state-of-the-art cars cut the air. Seungcheol had one of those, too, but he didn't like to use it. The sidewalks also seemed crowded with people, even if it was already late, and he didn't waste time trying to blend in with them.

It was easy to get lost there. All the streets always seemed too crowded and with too many buildings, even if most of them were unoccupied. The last time Seungcheol got lost, he had to stop right in the lair of an Artist. Seungcheol still remembered feeling completely terrified when he saw all the  _ notches  _ in the man's body, and almost pissed himself with fear when he directed the huge glass eyes towards him.

Fortunately, being the son of his father helped him to save himself from being a guinea pig for future experiments.

Seungcheol inspired deeply and thanked silently for, at least there, the air being decent. And he knew he was so focused on the surroundings only to ignore the real issue he should be thinking about.

Getting the plant would be easy, he knew, but he couldn't stop feeling scared. Many  _ "what if" _ they crossed his mind, and everyone's conclusion was quite bad. If he wasn't careful enough, he would be executed for treason. If he wasn't careful enough, Jeonghan and the Rats would be blown up in a fraction of a second.

However, Seungcheol knew that he couldn't back down, mainly because the idea of helping Jeonghan was always his, in the first place. If he only had a little more confidence in himself, maybe he wouldn't be so scared.

Seungcheol didn't even realize how much he had walked until he saw himself in front of the immense electronic gate of his house. He pulled his hair out of his eyes and allowed the scanner to read his retina, with a lie already ready on the tip of his tongue in case he was questioned by his parents or some employee who might still be there.

However, he noticed that he was alone before entering. None of his parents' armored cars were in the parking lot, which was at the opposite end of where he was, and the lights in the first floor rooms were all out.

He crossed the huge gardens quickly, relieved to have at least a little time to think in peace, and did not need to justify what he was doing outside at that time or the dust impregnated in his clothes.

Seungcheol headed straight to his room, on the third floor, and lost no time in going to the bathroom there. After undressing, he threw his dirty clothes into the bathtub and leaned against the cold wall while waiting to fill it up.

Right, he already knew he needed a plan; he couldn't just break into his parents' office, since there was also a retina scanner at the entrance, and he couldn't try to hack them when he knew very well that they were super trained generals and his main thing was to protect and control everything that went through the Corporation's network.

It was hard to think about what to do. It was one thing to listen to conversations around the corners and tell them to Jeonghan right after, stealing something related to the best-guarded place of the entire Metropolis was a completely different story. Just thinking about it made his head hurt, and he felt the cold, sticky fingers of despair slipping slowly through his skin.

Seungcheol walked back and forth and knelt beside the bathtub when he finally got full enough, wasting no time in starting to rub his clothes with a little liquid soap while he tried to force himself to think. Right, he wasn't  _ that _ incompetent, for sure he could act in a way that wouldn't arouse suspicion.

He was almost sure that he would be taken to the Base the next morning, something that had been happening quite often in the last weeks. Probably he would get some position there soon, also, because the Base was not exactly a touring point.

He already knew where the Control Tower was, so he could conveniently look for some bathroom in the area and invade it. That, however, would be the tricky part. He knew that there were retina readers, digital readers, and even a unique code for each employee who needed to enter there, so he couldn't simply allow his own data to be read and used for access.

He was about to grunt in frustration when he remembered something that might be useful to him. Long ago, practically in another life, Seungcheol drew and projected models in three dimensions. Obviously, he was never allowed to take it seriously, as a career, since it was already destined for specific things within the Structure, but that didn't stop him from having fun during his school years.

He used to draw people, objects, things, scenarios, and anything he could imagine. He could certainly access the general database and find out who worked in the Control Tower. He could design a retina and a digital one identical to any of these people. He could easily discover the code. He could draw the blueprint by himself after saving it on his optical chip and then give it to Jeonghan.

Seungcheol didn't know for sure when he had become a criminal, but he knew he wanted to see that damn Structure collapse. He was tired of seeing Jeonghan always looking too malnourished, too exhausted, and too hurt to move.

Seungcheol used to tell himself that he did what he did for Jeonghan, but, in fact, knew damn well that the rebel only gave him a lame excuse to do what he would end up doing anyway.

He hated that there was a Wall that chose who would have a decent life and who wouldn't. He hated being part of it, hated being the son of people who lived exclusively to support all that shit. Seungcheol knew he didn't fit there.

With a sigh, he hung up his clothes anyway and let out the filthy water before heading to the shower. He allowed the water to wash his worries for at least that moment and tried not to think too much about what he would do next, or he would end up freaking out.

Doing that practically equated him with an Artist, but again, Seungcheol would not think much about it. He put on the first clothes he found and continued on his way to the other side of the room, where was the white door he gave to his office.

Probably that was the most organized room belonging to Seungcheol in the whole house. Shelves full of old books filled one of the walls, his drawing material was properly boxed at the foot of the white table and his access terminals rested placidly on it. The office was the only room in the house that did not receive a visit from anyone but him.

Seungcheol rubbed his eyes once, twice, three times while gathering the necessary courage for what he was about to do, but the ghost of Jeonghan's smile behind his eyes motivated him to end it soon. The sooner he started, the sooner he would finish.

He chose to make a superficial connection instead of the usual immersion; he needed to be as soon as possible, and he couldn't raise suspicions either. If his superficial connection was caught, he could pretend to be studying and becoming familiar with the faces of his future co-workers.

It took a few moments for Seungcheol to really convince himself of his thoughts, and when he did, he chose to make his notes on a pad of paper. It would be too easy to obstruct his holo or his chip, in case they suspected something, so doing things the old-fashioned way was safer and more convenient for him.

He continued to feel the hot breath of anxiety in his neck as his well-trained fingers and eyes worked quickly through the multiple codes and access keys that would give him the list of faces he needed. The fact that screen after screen, all that appeared were more lines of useless text was not helping much to keep his spirits in check.

Seungcheol could feel that he was slowly losing control, slowly succumbing to the fear that had been moving his body since he had crossed the Walls that day. Time seemed to have stagnated completely, as did the progress of his search, and all he could think was that soon his parents would burst into the house and call him down and then they would suspect the look on his face and find that they were harboring a Mouse all that time.

_ Stop being irrational, _ Seungcheol's mind scolded, and a tired sigh cut its way through his lips hurt by nervous bites.  _ Stop being an oaf. _

Then, the screen before white shone green for a few milliseconds before displaying a page full of chips referring to everyone who even passed near the Control Tower. His eyes were immediately drawn to the time relationships and  _ no way _ . No, no, no.

How fucking unfortunate did Seungcheol have to be to see a miniature picture of his own father glowing above the time at the Base? How fucking unfortunate did Seungcheol have to be to be able to be disguised enough to falsify his own father's access data to help the Rats?

Seungcheol was absolutely sure that he wasn't breathing and that his heart wasn't beating, and that he would ruin everything before he even started. Seungcheol knew his father long enough to know that any punishment the Corporation might have for traitors  _ would not even come close _ to what would happen to him if a certain General Choi found out what he had been doing.

Seungcheol knew he would not be able to deceive him.

Even if he placed himself inside the Control Tower, even if he waited for him to get distracted to then copy the blueprint, Seungcheol couldn't be fast enough, he would never be fast enough to succeed in dodging the Corporation Champion.

That man had ascended to the condition of General with only twenty-one years old for a very clear and specific reason, a reason which Seungcheol's most vivid nightmares would never let him forget. Seungcheol knew he was his father's son, but he also knew he existed only for pure political convenience.

And, if having a son wasn't more convenient, the damned Choi Seunghyun wouldn't have any son.

Seungcheol needed to breathe, and there was definitely not enough air inside that white cubicle.

He wrote down some things quickly and disconnected himself from the database before going back to the giant space of the room and facing the ceiling. There wasn't enough air there either.

His feet carried him to the balcony, and he inspired one, two, ten times until he finally felt his head stop spinning enough to be able to think.

Fine.  _ Fine. _

If he could be smart enough, that could be a golden opportunity. All he needed was to get into the room with him and wait for a moment of distraction. He knew that Seunghyun would never be distracted, but he  _ needed _ to count on it, or else he wouldn't be able to do anything and would be doubly fucked up.

The first thing he had to do was to concentrate on the fucking first part of the plan. If he could do that, he could do anything.

_ Right. _

_ Anything, Seungcheol, that includes stopping pissing like a scared dog. _

Right.

Resignedly, he forced himself back inside and sat down one more time. At least he would no longer need to make digital or retina patterns, since he could very well find both home circuits, even. It was always Seungcheol who checked if everything was ok with those types of equipment, so it would be easy to copy some data.

_ Easy. _

Not for the first time, he wondered when it was that stealing codes inside the house became an easy task for him, but that was not an important topic at the moment.

His eyes lingered on the clock, and Seungcheol soon concluded that he had about fourteen minutes before any of them gave any sign of life. Fourteen minutes to create all the copies he would need and then pretend he hadn't done anything dangerous during the time they were away.

He slid the transparent chip out of his left temple and ran to the lower floor, wasting no time in sticking it in the terminal that was in the wall of the living room. Seungcheol watched impatiently until the terminal beeped two times and ejected the object.

Seungcheol was halfway up the steps that would lead him back to his room when he heard the garage doors being opened, so he ran the rest of the way and locked himself back in the office.

He tried not to think while drawing on the sterile screen of the holo and tried not to think while printing everything on thin layers of silicone that were soon stored under his pillow.

Seungcheol was still not thinking when he last looked at his watch and realized that he should try to sleep immediately, or he wouldn't have even two hours of sleep.

He still wasn't thinking when he closed his eyes and dreamed about Yoon Jeonghan's blue hair, who had sworn he would free him.

* * *

Seungcheol was spent the next morning and couldn't shake the feeling that everything would be discovered once they laid eyes on him.

He came down quickly and did his best to act normally and, it seemed, his parents hadn't noticed anything wrong yet.  _ Yet. _

The first meal was made in complete silence, and as much as that was normal, Seungcheol couldn't help thinking that, somehow, they had discovered everything while he was trying to sleep. Seungcheol knew he tended to get  _ very _ irrational when he was scared and knew that he would only harm himself that way.

Well, whatever, he couldn't back off now.

Seungcheol went to his father's car when he finished playing with his food, because the last thing he felt at that moment was hunger, and stared through the window.

"They will have good news for you next week," the General warned before leaving. "Behave as if you didn't know anything until the official announcement, but there are plans to hire you as a Craftsman."

Seungcheol agreed and contemplated the offer for a moment; a Craftsman was basically the same as an Artist, but without the part of being mercenary leeches without any scruples. If that were another reality and Seungcheol was ignorant of all the things he hated, to be a Craftsman would certainly be his dream in the same way that running away with the Rats was at the moment.

"Is that why you are taking me today?"

"Yes, don't embarrass me."

Because of course, that would be his only concern, nothing mattered but reputation and image. With a tired sigh, Seungcheol nodded and looked out the window again, remaining silent until they arrived.

The Base was exactly as he remembered: the whiteness was so intense that it hurt his eyes, and guards were spread every few meters of lawn to the gate. He never knew for sure what it was made, but he doubted very much that the Rats would be able to blow it up or whatever they had in mind.

There, they were scanned three times before they received badges and were put inside.

"Come with me, they will meet you in forty minutes." The General informed and, honestly, Seungcheol was already beginning to suspect how extremely convenient everything seemed to him.

Those forty minutes would have to be enough, so Seungcheol followed his father silently through the aisles and breathed relieved to notice that he wouldn't need to use all the devices he had made the day before, at least not to get in.

Seungcheol didn't listen to his father's monologue and focused on one of the last terminals as soon as they entered the Control Tower.

"I... Is there anything I can help you with?" He offered, trying to find a loophole to move things around. The other man stared at him curiously for a few moments and then signaled the other side of the room.

"You can take a look there but don't touch anything."

"Right," was to take it or leave it.

The first twenty minutes were a mixture of tension and anxiety as he waited for some opening to touch something silently. The cameras' awareness over his head wasn't helping at all, mainly because he knew he wouldn't be able to deactivate them and get what he needed while his father was distracted for a few seconds.

The perfect opportunity was only to appear when Seungcheol had only ten minutes left, but he would have to deal with it. Besides everything, he knew that going to the bathroom wouldn't last forever, so he decided to ignore the cameras. He could invent some justification after he got the main thing.

His fingers went through the keyboards quickly and were even quicker to capture the details with the memory amplifier of his chip. Soon a clumsy sketch took shape and, when the General returned, accompanied by a man he had never seen before, Seungcheol was sitting in a white chair while pretending to be very distracted with his holo.

Seungcheol felt his heart beating hard in his ears and, honestly, he didn't understand anything they told him he only followed the unknown when he stopped near the door. Now he just needed to survive that day and meet Jeonghan as soon as possible.

* * *

When asked what he was doing, Seungcheol lied that he had noticed an abnormality in the Immersion system and decided to see if he could fix it himself, since he would soon have to deal with more complicated things than that. He sincerely doubted very much that they had swallowed the brazen lie, but he didn't complain when they simply shrugged and focused on something else.

The case was that he wouldn't be able to meet Jeonghan before the weekend because he would be tied to his father for the next few days and needed to find some remote point of contact to warn him. After all, he was sure that the old man was suspicious of something and didn't want to give even more reasons.

So, for the rest of the week, Seungcheol would behave impeccably and improve the drawings before handing them over to... boyfriend? It would be nice if he knew how to define whatever was between the two, but he knew they both had more urgent concerns than that.

At least, Jeonghan understood the whole situation when he explained it quickly and they agreed to talk better in the early hours of Saturday to Sunday when they'd met again and said the words Seungcheol loved to hear most.

_ I love you. _

Spending the whole day at the Base was probably the most unfortunate thing that had ever happened to him. Seungcheol knew he wasn't so good at pretending and constantly wondered if they hadn't already noticed that he didn't want to be there, that he had no interest in becoming a Craftsman.

However, he clung to Jeonghan's words, used all those  _ I love you  _ to survive through the week without arousing suspicion or giving up everything.

On Friday, the announcement came.

Seungcheol was called to a meeting with dozens of unknown faces, and he honestly couldn't decide if the absence of his parents there was something good or not.

He did his best to look surprised when the announcement happened and forced grateful and enthusiastic smiles as he said he was eager to join the team and give his heart to the Corporation. The lies were bitter in his mouth, but they seemed sweet to the ears of those who would be his superiors, so Seungcheol sustained them until he was dismissed to know the sector where he would work from next week.

It was always surprising how gigantic the Base looked inside and relatively small outside. The barren corridors stretched endlessly, time and time again making curves or ending indoors but Seungcheol kept on walking until he reached underground.

A surprised gasp escaped when he saw all that structure, mainly because he knew it was everything to him. He honestly had never seen terminals as big as that and needed a moment to remember that he shouldn't let himself be seduced by all those things. After all, that was the core of the Corporation he hated so much and was about to become one more of their instruments. If he was intelligent enough, however, he could use that position in his favor.

Apparently, he would be in a training period for the rest of the month and would do nothing but observe and, eventually, assist the other Artisans. After that, he could take his own position and, who knows, have his own assistant.

The rest of the day passed like a blur while he tried to take notes of everything that might be important, and Seungcheol managed not to think too much about things that would make him anxious.

And then, Saturday arrived.

The day basically consisted of studying the blueprint in search of possible mistakes and turning nervously in bed when he was unoccupied for more than three minutes. The hours seemed to drag on impossibly slowly, and, when it began to get dark, Seungcheol felt as exhausted as if he had spent the whole day doing something physical.

He was ready at nine p.m. and sneaked into the garden at two a.m. As always, the sounds of the City accompanied him as he sewed through the sparse shadows to the Walls.

That time, Jeonghan had arrived first. He wore the same old red hoodie, with his blue hair stuck under his hood and his hands buried in his pockets. Seungcheol couldn't contain a sigh when he got closer and could distinguish his features.

He surely had never seen anyone as handsome as Jeonghan.

"Hi," the Rat said first and then opened his arms for Seungcheol to craving there.

"Hi," Seungcheol smiled small and clung to the other's body as if it were a salvation board. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," Jeonghan's hands moved in circles on Seungcheol's low back, dispelling all the tension that the brunette felt. "Let's go to where there are more shadows."

They walked silently to a point where the illumination of the Walls was practically non-existent and, still without saying a word, let their lips meet voraciously.

Seungcheol had missed it.

He always missed the way Jeonghan eagerly touched him, as if he didn't care about anything else in the world. He liked how tight Jeonghan's grip was to the point of leaving fingerprints on his waist, and liked to feel as if it belonged to him.

"We can't take too long," Jeonghan sighed when they separated briefly. "But I promise I'll come back tomorrow."

"That's okay," Seungcheol nodded and soon delivered three folded sheets to Jeonghan. "I put some access codes, too, in case you need them."

"Thank you," Jeonghan kissed his forehead firmly and looked at the drawings quickly before sticking them in an inner coat pocket. "You're the best."

"So take me with you," Seungcheol asked more for the force of habit than anything else but, before Jeonghan could protest, he amended it: "Now I'm a Craftsman."

"Like an Artist or worse?" Jeonghan asked curiously.

"Worse, I will be a slave to the Corporation, just like my parents. But my loyalty remains yours."

"I know," Jeonghan assured him and embraced him again. "I know I can trust you."

"I'm glad. I love you," Seungcheol answered quietly and blinked slowly. "I'm almost done with that channel I told you about, with safer frequencies."

Jeonghan never ceased to be surprised at how smart Seungcheol was, and always made a point of verbal reinforcement. After all, the least he could do was to make him aware of his own genius.

"I love you too," he said first. "And you're amazing, I can't believe how lucky I am to have you."

"To have me as a lover or a spy?"

"Seungcheol." Jeonghan's voice acquired that sharp, impersonal tone that Seungcheol hated so much while he let go of the hug and took a few steps back. "I wouldn't use someone,  _ you _ like that. I hate asking you things, I only do them when I really need them and..."

"I know," Seungcheol said quickly. "I know, it's just..."

"Just say it, I won't get angry."

"Okay, okay, it's just that you never tell me anything. You always say you love me, but you always leave a huge barrier between us, and I hate not having anything concrete to hold on to." The words coiled up a few times in his throat, and, honestly, Seungcheol didn't even believe he was saying them out loud.

"Right," Jeonghan exhaled through his nose and sat in the dirt before pulling Seungcheol into his lap. He knew it was unfair that Seungcheol was always available to him while he didn't even answer his questions properly. Moreover, only the fact that he really risked getting a blueprint of the most-watched and dangerous place in the whole Metropolis already made it clear where Seungcheol's loyalty lay. "What do you want to know?"

"Is your name really Jeonghan?"

"Yes," Jeonghan laughed low. Of all the existing questions, that was the last one he'd expect. "You're one of the few people who know, in fact."

"And what do they usually call you?"

"Ghoul. Fun Ghoul." The answer took a long time to come. "Now pretend you never heard about it, for the safety of both of us."

"Right. And how old are you?"

"I'm younger than you." Jeonghan smiled a bit with the surprise stamped on the other's face. "But only for a few months. Soon I will also be twenty-three."

"Ah... Have you ever killed someone?"

Well, things were definitely escalating fast.

"Yes, I did," anyway, Jeonghan answered without hesitation. After all, he thought it was already obvious. "More times than I can count, and I'm sure I shouldn't be so comfortable touching you with those bloodstained hands."

"It's okay... I expected it, and I don't care that much, as long as you had a good reason for killing. I guess."

"I don't like to shoot for nothing, the ammunition stock is short," Jeonghan had a dry laugh. "I usually only shoot when Poison is in trouble or when some incursion goes wrong."

"Who is this Poison?" Seungcheol asked after nodding. Jeonghan had touched that person's existence a few times before but never explained much.

"Our leader. But, also, my friend. My best friend." Jeonghan chose to omit the part that the two had been dating for some time because he didn't want Seungcheol to lose sleep over things that even existed anymore, and he knew Seungcheol would do it if he knew.

"I hope to meet him someday, then. Can I ask you one more question?"

"You can, but it has to be the last one, or you will have problems coming back, too."

"How cute, you worry about me." Seungcheol allowed himself to laugh a little, but he agreed. "Right... What are we? I swear I'll kill you if you say we're friends."

"I always thought we were dating," Jeonghan answered as if it was nothing. "You didn't?"

"Now I think," Seungcheol couldn't stop himself from smiling like an idiot and stuck his face in his neck now, boyfriend. "Thank you."

"I'm not sure what you're thanking me for, but okay. Open your hand, please."

As confused as the brunette was with the order, he obeyed and was startled to feel something icy being pressed against his palm. He removed his face from Jeonghan's neck to see what it was and felt a chill running down his spine as he saw a hunting knife in the middle of his open hand.

"You need something to defend yourself," he explained. "And I know you walk up and down like an idiot with only your own fists, but I doubt you know how to fight."

"Why does this look like an attack?"

"It's not, I just want to protect you. I'll be immensely happy if you can take care of yourself. Think of it as a dating gift."

"Hm, right then." Another silly little smile appeared on Seungcheol's face, and he stood up. "I'm going, shall we meet tomorrow?"

Jeonghan got up too and pulled him to the last kiss before nodding.

"Tomorrow."

* * *

There was something wrong.

Seungcheol was not the most intuitive of the men, but he felt that something was wrong as soon as he returned to the borders. And, if he had thought fast enough, he would have increased the speed of the low gravity boots before that immense man appeared and knocked him face down.

He wanted to laugh at the irony of the situation, the first time he had been attacked in all those months escaping was precisely when Jeonghan expressed his concern and armed him.

Seungcheol rolled over his own body and tried to get up, but, again, he was hit by the man. It was too dark to see him clearly, and they were too far from the Walls for Jeonghan to sense anything and come to his rescue, so all Seungcheol had was himself and the knife he had won moments before.

He didn't think twice before sticking it in the arm of the unknown figure and then stuck it in his neck when he managed to get loose for long enough. Blood was roaring in his ears, and Seungcheol knew that this was not the time to start whining while he wondered what the hell he had done. And he knew that, if he hadn't done anything, he himself would be lying in a pool of blood while the unknown, probably a Firefly, stole everything he had and left him for dead.

He didn't bother to try to look like an ordinary passer-by while he ran from there as fast as his boots allowed him, the blood-soaked knife stuck deep in his pocket. His brain vaguely registered poignant pain in his knees and hands, but he could worry about that later.

It was probably the first time he felt relieved to see his own home. Seungcheol turned around on the side, where he knew he wouldn't have windows, and reduced the gravity a little to be able to go over the wall. The pain became more poignant when he turned it off completely, now truly needing to move to walk.

The path to the room had never seemed so long as at that moment, and when he locked himself in the bathroom, he faced the knife and his own hands.

What had he done?

Seungcheol had just killed someone.

  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my [twitter](https://www.twitter.com/haoshoumon/) if you wanna chat.  
> if you find something weird, pls let me know!

**Author's Note:**

> English isn't our first language, so if you find something weird pls let us know!  
> Comments are always welcomed and make us happy!


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